Sugar House Maple Porter | Wagner Valley Brewing Co.

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Reviews by ElGuapo:

A nice dark brown pour topped in a thin lace of tannish foam. The aroma is very sweet with a big blast of maple syrup. Chocolate and roasty coffee touches combine to balance the aroma into a beautiful whiffer.

The body is pretty full and rich. Flavor is dominated by sweetness, but the maple syrup is much less noticable than it was in the aroma. It is still there enough to add its character. The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy all the way to the bottom of the glass, and this one really needs to warm up a bit. The sweet flavors are a little much at times, but it is still a very drinkable beer. This is a nice one to try if you want a nice porter with a different character.

More User Reviews:

12 ouncer sampled, label tells us to welcome warmer weather with "this full bodied robust porter" OK, I can do that...pours darkest shades of brown, with a typical dark tan head, leaving a nice smattering of scattered lacing, and sporting a nice sweet, maple nose. this is a silky/creamy smooth and tasty porter, notes of vanilla, maple, light smoke, cafe au lait and dry in the finish, this would do a great job marinating some BBQ chicken and/or washing it down...more high quality/classy brew from Wagner V.

A: Good carbonation pop. 2 solid fingers of mocha head with decent retention. Pours solid black with no visibility. No lacing.

S: Woody scent and maybe a touch of smoke, yet completely subtle. Other than that, I can't pick anything up. After the head dies down, I can pick up some of the maple but still not easily detectable.

T/M: Sweet malts with a touch of vanilla. More wood and with just a hint of smoke. Only 6% but a bit of alcohol phenols come out in the finish. Getting a bit of a metallic and 'cleaning product' toward the end.

A 12 oz bottle purchased at the brewery about a month ago. Tried it on tap there and brought a few bottles home.

A: The porter is a dark color that, on closer inspection, is black. No dark brown or full red, just black. A small head, less than a quarter finger, is just a thin band.

S: The nose is porter-rich, dark roasted flavors, with plenty of syrupy aromas to go around. I pick up maple, caramel, and butterscotch.

T: The darker porter flavors register first but quickly transition to maple syrup. The malts are roasted with chocolate and burnt toast. The maple syrup is sweet, accentuating caramel flavors (also syrupy). A roasted coffee flavor, soft, follows the syrup. The sweetness is a little thin, quickly losing its steam. The porter aspects pick up the steam in the finish, delivering darker malt flavors alongside the lingering sweetness.

M: The mouthfeel is dark and sweet, roasted and sugary. While thin at times, the fullness does a good job carrying the weight.

D: Drinkable? Yes. Maple is always a strong addition to any ale. The contrast of porter darkness and maple sweetness is nice.

Aroma is roasty with mild smoky notes and sweet maple syrup filling the nose. Body is flat black and holds a slowly diminishing thumb thick mocha head. Fore is watery with some nuttiness and mild vanilla /molasses sweetness. Finishes is mellow and shallow with little else to remark on than some vague coffee/nutty notes and a mild creaminess. Just not getting it done flavor wise, but it is at least not offensive.

Looks like a porter, smells like a porter, feels like a porter, but the taste was just okay. Given the name not much maple flavor showing through here which was disappointing. Not a bad beer, but not what I expected either.

Lovely cafe au lait head with a soft almost nitro-pour texture. Mostly black body with perhaps a shade of chestnut color at the bottom of the glass. Smell was rather bland with an almost lager like cleaness. No coffee or chocolate flavors in the nose to speak of. Taste was very smokey with an almost maple-cured bacon flavor with a harsh roasty flavor, like black coffee. Not very sweet or maple like except in the finish where there is a little syrupy flavor. Kinda a raw mouthfeel. Decent spring like beer, but nothing to write home about.

This was a boomer. The beer didnt foam in the bottle, but once it hit the glass, it exploded into a light tan head. Very stiff and meringue-like once it settled down. Very dark brown didnt let much light through at all. Overall a very attractive beer. Slight creosote in the aroma along with molasses. The molasses carries into the flavor with a very slight bit of smoke backing it up. Ok, but overcarbonated.

Well I am sampling this brew at room temp in a snifter. The beer pours a pitch black color and a fluffy tan head foams up about 1 cm and fades to an edge layer gradually.
Aroma is sweet like brown sugar and maple syrup. I get a little whiff of alcohol as well. I sniff deeper and detect rich mocha scents and also a nice bit of smoke quality. Wow impressive nose I think!
Fairly thick body and small rolling carbonation combine with a very smooth texture for one hell of a drinkable beer.
Flavor is very satisfying! The first bit is mild chocolate sweetness which flows to some earthy hop character and some coffee notes. The finish is a nice smoky aftertaste. I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and was surprised by some of the other reviews. I will definitely buy this again if I see it!

Out of the bottle. Dark, deep brown, motor oil like in color. Not much of a head, but maple sugar sweetness is definitely present on the nose. Tastes like a traditional American Porter with a hint of maple throughout. Very pleasant tasting as a whole. It's almost as if someone put maple coffee creamer into their morning joe. Medium-bodied and easy drinking for sure.

A: [2.50] The bottle lacks an ABV listing (booo!). IT also lacks a date code. The beer is a coffee brown color and forms almost no head. There is just a ring of khaki film along the edge of the glass.

S: [3.00] Dark fruit galore. Really strong scents of figs and plums. There is some chocolate and some smokey bacon scent.

T: [2.75] Charred smokey flavor. There is a bit of a chalky flavor (or maybe feel?).

M: [2.25] Thin and really undercarbonated. I was suspicious when I poured it and got nothing.

O: [2.75] Not good. The beer is flat. Since there is n dating there is no way to know if it is bad normally or is really old. I bought it 2 months ago. The mouthfeel is downright bad. Visually it was not nice either. The taste is below fair with a chalky taste that hurts some okay roasted malts. Won't buy/drink this again.